Guns sold online by the thousands

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Just how easy is it to buy a gun? Well, do you own a computer?

A new investigation by the website Mother Jones found that guns are being sold by the thousands on a popular social networking site, Reddit.

The website makes it pretty easy. There's a category specially for gun sales, and then you just type in where you live and what you want. While the ease of buying weapons online has made some people uneasy, others don't see the big deal.

It's not the wild, wild west of gun sales, according to second amendment attorney Eric Friday, it's the same as it ever was.

"While the social networking sites are being used to connect people, it's really no different than how we used to use classified ads in the newspaper. Newspapers used to allow for gun sales," said Friday.

The social networking site, Reddit, is just the last in a long line of websites that have found loopholes to sell firearms online.

"It has to be a person to person transfer. You can't send it in the mail, and you can't give it to a person you know to be a felon," he said.

Friday says while the forum may be new, the rules are still the same.

"It doesn't bother me a bit because the laws regarding guns still apply. No matter how the people connect initially, the laws still apply," he said.

Lawful or not, the new method is taking some heat. One person who has listed dozens of guns and ammunition online tweeted that 20 or 30 dead children would "dress out his balance sheet".

Friday says there's no excuse for the comment, but it shouldn't be used to judge everyone who buys a gun online.

"Police make mistakes, reporters make mistakes, lawyers make mistakes, gun owners make mistakes. But you can't hold all of any group responsible for the comments of one person," he said.